Coquitlam, B.C.- Ben Kindel sees the ice in a way that few players can.
And with the way the Calgary Hitmen alternate captain has put up a plethora of highlight-reel dishes and goals, NHL scouts see him as a potential first-round NHL Draft pick.
“The best playmakers are always a step ahead,” Calgary Hitmen Head Coach Paul McFarland said of Kindel. “They know where they’re doing with the puck before they get it, and Ben sees things other players don’t… He thinks the game at an elite level, and he’s ultra competitive to go with it. Over the course of the season, he was very consistent from start to finish with us, and probably played his best hockey in the playoffs, when, obviously, everything matters the most. It was very evident to all of us when the game was on the line, he wanted to be on the ice. He wanted to be the player who scored the big goal. And he was able to do that for us on a number of different occasions throughout the year.”
Kindel popped off for 35 goals and 64 assists for 99 points in 65 regular-season games.
He set a new Hitmen record for longest point streak after going on a 23-game tear (15G-30A) from November 8, 2024, to January 12, 2025. The impressive run was second only to hockey phenom and WHL Player of the Year Gavin McKenna’s 40-game streak.
Kindel finished second on the Hitmen in points and goals, while leading the squad in helpers.
His 99 points led all 2025 NHL Draft-eligible skaters and ranked seventh among all WHLers, all while matching up against his opponent’s top lines night in and night out and leaning on his hockey IQ.
“It’s all over the ice, knowing what you’re going to do before you get the puck, kind of anticipating plays and seeing things develop before they happen,” Kindel explained. “On the offensive side, being able to make plays, but also on the defensive side, being able to create turnovers and takeaways. So there’s a lot that goes into it.”
Kindel prides himself on how far his shot came in his second full WHL season, particularly with his five game-winning goals, and establishing himself as more of a dual threat.
He’s able to shift from centre to wing, but McFarland and Kindel prefer to see the 5-foot-10, 186-pound forward go to work at the dot, where he won 353 (54.4 percent) of his draws this season.
The Coquitlam, B.C. product also paced his team with 15 points (8G-7A) in 11 playoff games as the Hitmen reached Game 7 of the second round.
On the international stage, he picked up gold for Canada at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup (1G-1A) and 2025 IIHF U18 World Championship (1G-6A).
His elite skills aren’t limited to hockey, either.
Kindel comes from one of Canada’s elite soccer families.
His parents, Sara Maglio and Steve Kindel, both played pro soccer and represented Canada internationally, while Ben played midfield and took the pitch for the 2022 National U16 Soccer Championship.
Ben and his sister, Lacey, even made separate Team Canada debuts on the same day last August- Ben, with Canada at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Edmonton and Lacey, who plays for the prestigious Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite Academy, at the Concacaf Under-15 soccer championship in Costa Rica.
“It was a full-circle moment for our family, just getting to watch us both on the same day,” Kindel said. “It’s really cool how it lined up on perfect days.”
While the Kindel clan was split across the continent for that special day, they’ll be together in Los Angeles (with plenty more relatives and billet parents along for the ride) to see which NHL team calls Ben’s name.
More than two dozen NHL clubs met with Kindel at the 2025 NHL Combine in Buffalo, N.Y., at the start of the month, where he also put up top 20 finishes in pullups, pro agility, peak power output, vertical jump and the no-arm jump.
NHL Central Scouting has ranked Kindel 21st among all North American skaters, with other reputable outlets projecting him anywhere from the mid-teens to late 20s.
“One of the things that I think is really valuable is his versatility, what I call the ability to flex through a lineup,” TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button, who has Kindel ranked 27th overall, said. “Ben can play center, he can play on the wing, he can play on the penalty kill. He can play on the power play. He can play at the top of the power play. He can be a player who can check, he can score, he can make plays. He reminds me a lot, in the way he plays the game, of Zach Hyman, though Zach Hyman at this age was nowhere close to where Ben Kindel finds himself.”
Now, all that’s left is to see which team will be a part of the next step of Kindel’s impressive on-ice evolution.
First-round coverage of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft begins on Friday, June 27, with Rounds 2-7 set for Saturday, June 28.
